The Specimen Processing Core and its associated microbiology, molecular biology, chemistry and hematology laboratory equipment and capabilities are designed to support NEIDL Investigators engaged in the study of emerging infectious diseases including category A, B and C agents. The laboratory is designed to handle specimens obtained from animals housed in the Animal-BSL3 and Animal-BSL4 core facilities and cultures of BSL-3 and BSL-4 agents. Coordination with the Animal Cores (including Pathology/Necropsy) will be important so that specimens obtained can be appropriately processed immediately following collection and transportation to the laboratory in a safe and timely manner. This will include the use of digital scales to weigh tissue at the point of collection, the ability to use viral or other transport media such as transport media with chaotropic agents for subsequent nucleic acid extraction, the need to flash-freeze the specimen, to autoclave the specimen, or to treat it with gamma radiation prior to transportation out of the BSL-4 area. Classic mouse brain inoculation studies for arbovirus work, processing specimens from inhalation studies with subsequent quantitative cultures to determine the microbial burden in lung and other organs, and vaccine challenge studies are examples of work that will be coordinated with the microbiology laboratory.